ENTERTAINMENT: TDR compiles a list of the BASKETBALL: LSU takes on Georgia must-do events for St. Patrick’s Day, p. 11 today, p. 7
Reveille The Daily
www.lsureveille.com
Thursday, March 14, 2013 • Volume 117, Issue 106
BOARD OF REGENTS
Unite disqualified but wins by more than 1,000 votes One-time Ticket to appeal disqualification funds used to finance University Alyson Gaharan Staff Writer
victory by default. The announcement of the new SG president was delayed for more than an hour while the election board deliberated over the content of Unite LSU’s financial documents that were received 30 minutes past the 10 a.m. deadline Wednesday. A UCourt case is set for 7 p.m. tonight to deal with the complaint filed against the Unite LSU ticket’s tardy filing of its campaign’s financial documents.
The funding of the proposed 2014 fiscal year higher education budget forces the Board of Regents to use non-recurring money to fund universities for the first time, putting them at risk of mid-year cuts. “The [2013 to 2014 fiscal year] Executive Budget fundamentally changes the manner in which higher education has been historically funded,” states a Board of Regents document shared between Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell and University presidents. “The predominant source of the state’s support towards higher education funding in the Executive Budget is non-recurring, one-time funds, which by their nature, may not be available for future years.” Higher education is traditionally paid for with money from the general fund, but this year, nearly $700 million was taken out of that fund, while about $600 million was added to another fund within the
ELECTION, see page 6
BUDGET, see page 19
photos by MORGAN SEARLES [left] and CONNOR TARTER [right] / The Daily Reveille
[Left] Taylor Parks (left) and John Woodard (right) celebrate Wednesday after receiving the most votes in the Student Government election. Their campaign, Unite LSU, was disqualified pending a UCourt appeal decision. [Right] Kaitlin Torké (left) and T Graham S. Howell (right) of Impact LSU celebrate after seeing the Student Government election results. View more photos from the election announcement, p. 6.
Judah Robinson Senior Contributing Writer
Unite LSU Student Government presidential candidate John Woodard and vice presidential candidate Taylor Parks cheered Wednesday as the announcement came that they received more than 1,000 votes over their opponents, Impact LSU presidential candidate T Graham S. Howell and vice presidential candidate Kaitlin Torké. Despite the landslide of votes, it is unclear if Woodward
and Parks will reign as SG leaders due to being disqualified while default winners Howell and Torké fled the scene moments after the announcement came. Woodard and Parks, who were disqualified for overspending their budget and will go to the University Court tonight over a possible second disqualification for submitting their financial documents late, defeated Howell and Torké on an almost 60 to 40 percent vote of 3,337 to 2,240. The University’s notoriously low
SG voter turnout was around 20 percent, or 5,577, and declined from last year’s general election, which saw around 24 percent, or 6,529 votes. “We want to make sure that we go to UCourt and represent all of our candidates,” Woodard said. “Now we are going to take this head-on and make sure this is straightened out in UCourt.” Although Howell sent The Daily Reveille a statement via email, he refused to speak in person or comment on his controversial
RELIGION
Catholics hopeful for new pope Erin Hebert Contributing Writer
White smoke ascended from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney in Vatican City on Wednesday as the College of Cardinals chose a new leader of the Catholic Church. While cheers echoed throughout Vatican City, they also rose from campus. Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, the first non-European pope in more than 1,000 years and the first Latin American pope in the church’s history, was announced as Pope Benedict XVI’s successor. Bergoglio chose the name Francis, another first in the church’s history. Father Bob Stine of Christ the King Church and Catholic Student
Center said he was hoping for a non-European pope to show that the Catholic Church has a worldwide presence. “A large part of the 1.2 billion Catholics live outside of Europe,” Stine said. “To kind of acknowledge that is really, really good.” Stine said the church’s recognition as a worldwide institution has grown since the 20th century and it’s important to represent that change in the church’s leadership. Biological engineering junior Matthew Zelinsky said the pope’s Latin American background is a good thing because most Catholics outside of Europe reside there. The church’s increasingly global reputation is “a gradual
development,” Stine said. He said modern communication and technology have aided this expansion. Zelinsky said he likes that the church seems to be more open to modern technology, referencing the pope’s Twitter account. “This is the first mode of communication where lay-Catholics can directly interact with the pope rather than going through priests or the bishop,” Zelinsky said. “Obviously, he’s not just scrolling through his timeline, but he definitely sees it.” Stine said he doesn’t expect Pope Francis to change much in terms of the church’s basic policies, but added that each pope puts his POPE, see page 19
GREGORIA BORGIA / The Associated Press
Pope Francis waves to the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, on Wednesday after he was elected as pope. See more photos, p.5.